Food and Morality

[WonderingOne]

Abiyah,

When you're dieting, if you should start to feel dizzy, weak, and shaky, it could mean that yur blood sugar has dropped too low. If that should happen, mix about a teaspoonful of sugar with a half a glass of orange juice and drink it, and it should make you feel better. Also eat something as soon as you can. Fresh fruit shouldn't raise your glucose level that much if you are eating it as a snack. Starches convert to sugar in your body, and will raise your glucose level just as sweets do, so go easy on those, and you should be ok. But do remember to eat..6 small meals a day are better than 3 big ones. They tell me to eat a small amount every two hours, which keeps the glucose constant, rather than up and down. Good luck, and take care of yourself.

Carol

 

[Dr. Bob]

Another tip - dried fruit (apricot, raisin, etc - not the sugared kind like pineapple) and nuts or seeds in a ziplock bag can be a lifesaver. I keep one in my pocket and often go a week without needing it.

Ah the good ol' days when I could fast for 2-3 days, eat a small (liquid) meal, and fast again. Great for weight loss. But the metabalism and age have caught up. Now a 12-hour fast is max, and then even if I'm sleeping through part of it!

I'm not getting better, I'm getting older!

 

[Abiyah]

Thank you for all the tips, Carol and Dr. Bob! I am
paying attention! 8o)

Today, I did eat better than I have since I started
dieting -- eating a bit at a time. I started the day
with oatmeal, so it has stayed with me until about
an hour ago. Regardless, I ate Healthy Choice
Country Glazed Chicken for lunch, had three
amaranth crackers a little later, then a 12-ounce
V-8, and I still have 300 calories to go to reach my
1000 allowable calories per day.

Again, thank you.

- - - - - - - -

Hello, Aaron!!

 

[Abiyah]

I have lost 8.5 pounds of water. It sure is not the
twenty pounds of water I lost before.

Does anyone know what causes us to retain so
much water when not dieting and to lose so much
when we are?

 

[Abiyah]

Today was a tough day. I was hungry all day. As
I prepared my husband's fried chicken, oh, how I
wanted some! When I cooked the broccoli, I
thought, "It is low-calorie margarine without
cholesterol. Why not have some?" When I did the
baked potato with cheese, oh!

And I saw pizza on TV. I thought of garlic-cheese
bread, fragrant, hot and stringy with loops of
cheese sagging toward the plate, too. I imagined
a thick steak at The Keg.

But the Lord helped me to stay with it. The only
thing I did not do is drink enough water. I am so
tired of water. 8o|

But I am going to do this. I ate exactly 1000
calories and the right amounts of fiber and fats.
I am going to do this, with our God's help.

 

[Aaron]

But the Lord helped me to stay with it. The only
thing I did not do is drink enough water. I am so
tired of water. 8o|

That's the key! The days I pray I do much better. We have not because we ask not. When my wife goes very long without food, she gets sick to her stomach and a severe headache. So, if it isn't meal time, she just eats a snack cracker with peanut butter on it. She doesn't get full, but her illness goes away. She obviously needs the extra energy.

I, on the other hand, can go a looooooooooooong time without food and not feel sick.

Kate, I haven't looked through the info you gave me yet. It's been hectic around here the last few days.!

 

[Abiyah]

What?? With ONLY an addition to the family? 8oD

Have you ever held a newborn child in your arms
-- especially a little boy -- and not thought of our
Lord at that age and His mom and stepfather?
Infants are such wonders to begin with -- little
bundles of precious potential.

Thank you, Aaron. I got through the day
yesterday, and today is much better. MUCH
better.

 

[Abiyah]

Any nutritionists on board? Subject: water. Why
must it be straight water? The water here tastes so
bitter, even the bottled, filtered, etc. water. I can
slug it down when very thirsty and not notice the
taste, but when I am drinking because I must, it
tastes terrible! I am discouraged re the need to
drink so much water.

 

[WonderingOne]

Abiyah, try squeezing a little bit of fresh lemon juice into the water, and if you don't like it sour, put a pack of nutrasweet in. One pack of nutrisweet only has 4 calories, and the sugar in it is negligible. Equal is good.

 

[Helen]

Get a Brita filter pitcher, Abiyah. They filter out everything and the water tastes so good.

You asked about retaining water weight: it, for us women, is primarily a combination of hormones and salt intake. The first thing most people do when starting a diet is cut snacks. Most ready-made snacks are very high in salt. Keep in mind, also, there are different kinds of salt, and sodas contain different kinds of salts, too!

Abiyah, I would suggest going to about 1400 or 1500 calories a day and walking a little. 1000 calories a day will lower your metabolism to starvation level and not only will you feel miserable a good part of the time, but you will lose more slowly than if you up your calorie intake and exercise a bit (more).

Aaron, you may have more 'luck' (excuse the term!) when you go out with friends if you eat much more slowly. Do NOT start with a salad -- start with carbohydrates -- not a heaping plate, but enough to get your blood sugar elevated a bit. THEN go for the salad (and keep the dressing to a minimum) and some protein (lean). The salad will fill you more and the protein will extend the feeling of satisfaction through the coming hours.

If you have eaten slowly enough, this should make you feel satisfied after two plates, and the feeling of feeling good should stay with you for quite a while after that. Don't go for a dessert. This will bump your blood sugar too much and your insulin will then stuff a ton of your meal into fat, your blood sugar will then drop, you will feel both hungry and tired, and off you go on another eating thing...

In the meantime, I have been waylayed royally regarding my own spring normal weight loss. I have either bruised my heel or it has a stress fracture. Walking is extraordinarily painful. So much for yard work. So much for walking. I guess I'd better start going really heavy on situps! What's left?

In the meantime, my winter fats and I are getting to be bonded....

 

[Abiyah]

Carol --

I tried the lemon in the water, and it enhanced the
bitter taste already in the water. Howeve, I love
lemonade, and apparently, lemons have no
calories! I did drink lemonade yesterday, with
sweetener. What I question is why is this not just
as good as water for getting liquids into one's
system? I know that the sweetener adds
chemicals to one's body, and I accept that, but
otherwise, does it not give me fluids just as well
as water would?

Helen --

I tried a Brita here, and the water still tasted
terrible. I think this town just has bad water which
nothing will improve. Presently, we have a big ol'
filter on the faucet, but the water still tastes bad.
I started buying water at a local filtering shop
(Water To Go), and the taste has not improved.

Regarding calories, I am in pain quite a bit of the
time, and I don't sleep well because of it and
sleep apnea. As a result, I do not exercise enough
(in my opinion) for eating 1400 calories. Maybe I
am wrong, but it just feels excessive. Today, I had
a good day, though, so I ate a few more calories
than usual, because I worked in the yard, tearing
out an elderly neighbor's black berry brambles
that will eventually hang over into my yard, without
my intervention.

Oh, I lied. I guess I didn't eat extra. By the time I
go to bed, I will, though. I am at 990 calories.

I will allow for days like this and hope I have more
good days. 8o)

 

[WonderingOne]

Abiyah,

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I think the big thing about diet sodas and the like instead of water is the issue of sodium. Adding salt to something actually enhances the sweetness, which is why they contain a lot. If you use real lemons and equal, you wouldn't have the sodium problem with thelemonade you make yourself. My guess would be that it's a question of how much of the Equal you use. I would make it by the glass, putting just enough lemon juice to flavor the water, and just enough equal to sweeten it to a tolerable level.

 

[Abiyah]

I hate -- HATE! -- diet sodas, except for
grapefruit-flavored ones, so I don't drink them.
However, I just bought some fruit-flavored,
carbonated stuff to see if it was good. I wanted
to drink it when water became intollerable. No
coloring, no sugar. Let me go see how their
sodium content is.

. . . . . . . . .

AH! Safeway Select Cclear Key Lime Ssparkling
Water Beverage -- caffeine-free and sodium-free!
But there is a problem: I thought it was sugar-free,
but it's not!! I'm gonna cry!!

Oops! 8oD Guess that's out! Maybe my husband
will like it.

 

[Abiyah]

Well, it has been two weeks, and I am down 11
pounds. I figure that at this rate, if I stick with it,
I should be down a total of around 25 pounds by
my birthday in the middle of June -- a great
birthday present to me. I hope to have lost a
total of 50 pounds by the end of the year, but that
may be expecting too much; we'll see. I would
like to have lost 60 - 70 pounds by this time next
year, but that may make me too thin; again, we'll
see.

Main thing: I feel good, and it is working. 8oD

[ April 14, 2003, 07:48 PM: Message edited by: Abiyah ]

 

[christfollower55]

God made me big and i guess i will stay that way. I have always been big and i don't know why. i don't eat sweets or bread and a stay active all the time. Like i said i guess God wants me this way....

God Bless America

 

[Abiyah]

8oD Unfortunately, for me, He didn't do it -- I did.
I think that it is true that for those of us who did it
to ourselves, it is not a good testimony for our
Lord for us not to be working on it. With two
Passover dinners in a row and one HUGE mistake
when we ate out this past SUnday, I will not be
losing weight this week, I am sure. 8o( But I am
not discouraged.

What did I learn Sunday? Have them put the
barbeque sauce on the side so that I can remove
the skin from the chicken!!! Unfortunately, there
was so much chicken that it was Ssunday's and
Monday's meals, throwing me completely off. 8o(